Page:Victoria, with a description of its principal cities, Melbourne and Geelong.djvu/56

 Melbourne is a corporate city, and boasts of a mayor, aldermen, and councillors; a town-clerk with a large staff of minor officials, the efficiency of which is shown in the good arrangement of the streets, well metalled, curbed, and side paths in course of being paved, so as to bear comparison with any modern city.

The immediate environs of Melbourne in every way claim a favourable notice. The Richmond Paddock, in particular, is a delightful retreat from the heat, dust, and business of the city. Nature has made it a beautiful locality, and all that is now required is the hand of man to complete what nature has designed. The planting of a few more trees, and the opening of a gravel walk along the margin of the Yarra, would greatly tend to enhance the natural beauties of the Paddock. A commissioner of public parks, &amp;c., has been appointed, and to him we look for their improvement.

The Melbourne Cricket Club hold their meetings in the Paddock, and have erected a spacious club-house. Upon grand days, such as a match with the Geelong and other clubs, the scene is very animated from the large concourse of ladies; and it is difficult to realize the fact that we are some 12,000 miles distant in a colony but a few years in existence.

Opposite the Paddock, across the Yarra, are the Botanical Gardens, a favourite place of resort of the Melbournites on Sundays. The gardens are laid out